Printing apparatus.



S. UPSIUS. PRINTING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1914.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

'INVEN TOR. y

' A fro/W5 Y6 SAMUEL LIPSIUS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PRINTING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters JPatent.

Patented Aug. it

Applic tion filed September 10, 1914. Serial No. 860,969/ l 1 o I 1 ii. 'ent-ion proposes an nnprovecl apparatus for produc ng 'aised printing snnulatin embossing.

' r the objects of the invention may be noted the provision of an inexpensive and reliable apparatus for accomplishing, independently and in conjunction with each other, a number of operations directed to the production of raised printing without the use of dies, said apparatus effecting the automatic application of a suitable amalgainating ingredient to the ink of a freshly printed a therefrom of superfluous portions or said ingredient. and the automatic subjection of the thus prepared printing to a suitable range of fusion temperatures, and finally cllecting a discharge of the paper at a point where it may be conveniently utilised.

Dthcr objects will be in part obvious from the annexcddrawings and in part indicated in connection therewith by the following anal of this invention.

This invention accordingly consists in the features of construction and cornbination of parts, and in the unique relations of the members and in the relative arrangement, disposition and cooperation thereof; all as more completely outlined herein.

To enable others skilled inthe art so fully to comprehend the underlying features thereotthat they may embody the same by the numerous modifications in structure and relation contemplated by this invention, drawings depicting a preferred .iorm of apparatus have been annexed as a part of this disclosure, insuch drawings, like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout yiews, of which:

surface, the automatic removal of the apparatus of Fig. 1 applied to a cylinder press.-

In approaching a consideration of this invention, it should be noted that for many years attempts have been made to pr c ice without the use of expensive plates or dies the clear-cut uniform linear or stippled characters obtained in the various engraving systems. While such attempts have been successful to a certain extent in isolated instances, it may be safely said that the systems evolved have not brought the art of raised printing into general use. The presentinvention, relating as it does to an iniproved apparatus for producing raised printing capable of operation in an entirely automatic manner, obviates many of the obstacles to success found in prior-art systems and conduces, by its very slur plicity and effectiveness, to the production of imitation engraving at a low cost both for equipment and operation. The term printing, as herein used, is intended to in dicate the systems that form characters in ink on. paper or other material, in contralistinct2on to such operations as coating and altering the color of characters by applying: a metallic non-absorbent material thereon.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. l of the drawings, there is illustrated at 1 a feeding table from which freshly printed sheets of paper are fed manually to the grippers of the revolving cylinder 2 whose surface passes during a fraction of each revolution through a container 3 filled with powder, forming what might be termed apowder bath. The powder herein contemplated is non-metallic, and in the form of microscopic grains or crystals and of a composition adapted at normal temperatures to adhere to the wet ink on the paper, and at an elevated temperature readily fuse to and thereupon amalgamate with the ink; becoming sufficiently translucent in fusion to adopt the color of the ink; as distinguished from a metallic opaque substance designed to conceal permanently the color of the ink. A. powder of the composition set forth in the Crump Patents 644,281 and 644,282, or of the type in commercial use, or of any suitable type, may be used. The container wall extends far enough around the cylinder to prevent the escape of powder.

After one or more revolutions of each I sheet of paper around the cylinder through 7 physical contact between the inked surface and the agitators, and maintaining the sheet in an approximately horizontal plane with the freshly inked side uppermost, in order to retain on the inked portions as muchpowder as possible. While in many respects it is immaterial just how the sheet is agitated, it has been found preferable to raise first the head end or right-hand end (Fig. 1) of the sheet at a point far enough along the duster-conveyer 4 so that the sheet is enti "fly under the suction hood 5, thus causing -the superfluous powder to travel toward the left relatively to the sheet, without, however, permitting the lighter portions to es- 1 cape from the hood 5 to the cylinder 2, where, they might prove detrimental by interfering with the work of the grippers and gears. As will be clear from the drawings, the heavier portions of superfluous powder drop into the duster-hopperli whence they may be removed through the discharge opening 9, while the lighter particles are drawn away through a suction device (not shown) connected with the hood 5; suitable means (not shown) may be-provided for settling and reclaiming the powder passing through the suction device. h V

Opposite the right-hand roller 10 of the duster-conveyer, where the sheets are discharged at the'end of the second stage of the operation of the apparatus, is a heatercOnveyer 11 composed preferably of a pair of longitudinally disposed chains 12 passing over suitably spaced sprockets 13 and separated by lateral wires 14 spaced a-few inches apart throughout the entire length of the endless conveyer, the separation of the wires measured lengthwise of the conveyer being considerably less than the size of the smallest sheets for which the conveyer is designed, so that the sheet is virtually carried upon a skeleton of transverse .wires moved at right angles to their length through whatever path the conveyer. may have. In the present instance this path may be roughly described as a flat isosceles triangle comprising the upward side 15 and downward side 16 for the forward movement and theapproximately horizontal base 17 for the return movement. Vithin this triangle is provided a heating device such as a series of gas j'ets 18 of appropriate spacing and approximate conformity tothe contour of of the conveyer'pa-th.

Each sheetdischarged conveyer at 10 is taken up automatically by the upward, and downward portions 15,16

from the duster the heater-conveyer 11 at the left-hand pair of sprockets 13 thereof, and is carried upward through a zone of progressively in creasing temperature, owing to the fact that the heated air collects in the'apex of the heater-hood 20. In this manner thepowder adhering to the inked portions of thesheet is subjected to a thermo-chemical treatment and becomes incorporated intothe ink itself, giving body to the ink and causing the combined ink and powder to appear as raised homogenous lines or characters, in successful imitation of the expensive products of;

the engravers art. The maximum temperature to which the sheet is subjected is encountered approximately at the apex 210i the conveyer triangle 15, 16, 17, where the sheet begins its downward travelfthrough' progressively decreasing temperatures to .the terminal sprockets 22, whence the sheet may be discharged to a suitable receiving device indicated at 23,-or if another conveyer (not shown From this it will be seen that, with apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1, a sheet of paper with the ink not yet dry is fedmanjh ally from the table 1 to the cylinder 2, upon which it passes through powder at 3, thus completing the first stage of the system; the sheet then travels over the duster-conveyer 4 where it is agitated by the duster-cams 7 to remove superfluous powder, this forming the second stage; the third stage comprises the passage of the sheet through the heating dome ,20; where it is subjected to progressively' increasing and then progressively decreasing temperatures to incorporate the powder into the ink, with the result that a raised-printing effect is produced, in

remarkable imitation of engraving. Thepreferable to above, as will be noted, involves manual;

feeding of the sheets to the first stageofthe system, but is entirely automatic in other res ects. I M 1 n order to provide an apparatus which is fully automatic and at the, same time eco-- nomical of space, the apparatus of Fig. 1 is to be directly coiiperativelycombined with a press in which-the preliminary printing is performed; the first or powdering stage of the raised-printing system following immediately after the printing operation in the press itself, and requiring no manual attention for the sheets in transit from the "printing stage to the powdering' stage. This aspect of the present invention, is indicated diagf-ammatieallv in Fig. Ilere the sheets to be printed are fed from the tahle 2t of a (amphell or other press to the printing cylinder 23, around which they are carried during the printing process and then discharged to a feeding conveyer 2a which carries them to the powdering cylinder alte which the operations occur as indicated in connection with Fig. i. In like manner, the apparatus of Fig. 1 may he cooperatively comhined with a hand. semi-automatic or full-automatic press of any one of a 'variety of types in such a way as to receive the sheets di reetly as they are discharged from the press, eliminating in this way any intermediate handling of the sheets between the printing operation and the operations illustrated in Fig. 1.

Without further analy. the 'lioregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that'uthers can hy ai iplying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without oniittinn eertain features that. from the standpoint of the prior art, i'airly constitute essential charm-teristics ot' the generic or specilir aspects of this invention. and therefore such adaptations should and are intended to he eomprehended within the meaning and range i equivalency of the following claims.

ilaving thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to secure the following combinations, elements, or equivalents thereof. hy Letters Patent of the United States: I 4

1. \n automatic apparatus for producing raised printing comhining a conveyer for a t'reshly-inlv'ei and powdered sheet of paper, said eonveyer being constructed to carry said sheet gradually upward and then downward, a hood containing said conveyor for applying to said sheet a sullieiently high temperature to fuse the powder hy the heat and thereby lorm raised-printing, and means l'or internally heating said hood.

"3. An automatic apparatus for producing raised printing con-mining means for gupporting a freshly inked sheet of paper, a powder hath containing an ink-absorbing ingredient, means for passing the sheet through said hath whereby a portion of said ingredient adheres to said sheet, and means for removing the ingredient from the noninlted portions of the sheet.

3. An automatic apparatus for producing raised printing eomhining a powder hath containing a non-metallic ink-absorbing ingredient readily fusible with heat, a cylinder adapted to support a freshly printed sheet of paper and having is lower surfaee extending below the normal surface of the powder and adapted to carry said sheet through the hath, and means for rotating said cylinder.

l. An automatic apparatus for producing raised printing eomhining a eonveyer adapted to carry a freshly inked and powdered sheet in an upward and then downward direction, a hood over said conveyer and shaped in approximate wi 't'ormity to the path of said sheet, and a source of heat near said path wherehy said sheet is subjected to a progressively increasing temperature in its travel along said con eyer, to fuse said powder into said inlt to form raised printing.

7). .\n aut matic apparatus for producing imitation engraving combining a conveyor for carrying separate sheets through in inverted position with their freshly printed areas facing downwardly; means compris ing a powder hath for applying a fusible resinous powder to inverted areas of said sheets; and a fusion oven adapted to melt the powder adhering to the inked lines during the transit of said sheets.

I n witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name, as attested by the two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL LIPSIUS.

.Yitnesses:

L. Ill, Connms, DifLo's G. Haynes. 

